Dispenser for stacked articles



Dec. 14, 194s. J; LIBEN 2,456,068

DISPENSER FOR STACKED ARTICLES Filed 001'..r 5. 1946 a f5 JH In l i' IZfg Tlcl.

lNvENToR Jay IBEN ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 14, 1948 L#liti-:I iS TATESPATENT F F l CE DISPENSER FOR STACKED AARTICLES Jay Liberi, New York, N.Y.

Application October 3, 1946,.Serial No.700,'987

2 Claims.

invention relates vgenerally to ydispensing devices, and vin particularitrelates to devices for dispensing stacked articles. `My invention isWell adapted to devices for dispensing such articles as papernapkins.and the like, although its use is not Y so limited, having many otherand wider applications. For purposes of illustration only, the inventionwill .be described in relation to dispensers for stacks of papernapkins.

The present invention relates broadly to that type .of stack .dispensing.device which contains a follower plate upon or against which thestacked articles rest, .the follower .plate urging the stack towards the.dispensing opening. Specifically, the inuention'relates to the followerplate component and its positioning With respect to the stacked articlesand with respect to the rdispensing opening. In one specific aspectthereof, my invention relates to the -follower bed component of the typeof dispensing device described and claimed in Shapiro Patent No.1,965,060, dated July 3, 1934.

.In conventional devices for dispensing stacked articles, -eithermanually or mechanically .operated, the lfollower plate .urging thestack towards the opening is parallel thereto, and exerts pressureyequallydistributed over the stack area. This pressure renders itdiicult ofttimes to manually Separate the upper- .or top-most article inthe stack, and in mechanically operated machines very :frequently causes`jamming and bunching,

if the lever operating o n the eX-posed front edge of the umgerrnostlarticle is improperly handled or adjusted.

The main object of the present invention, therefore, is the` provisionof a follower plate for use in stack dispensing devices which isangulated with respect to the front, or that portion of the deviceagainst which the stack is urged; which exerts a greater pressureagainst one end of the stack than the other; which compresses thatpQltien of the stack remote from the dispensing opening, and whichpermits and promotes easy separation of the articles at or adjacent thedis,- pensing opening remote from the point of greatest ,stackcompression.

An associated object of my invention is the provision of an improvementin dispensing machines of the particular typereferredk to in the Shapiropatent,v whereinhowever actuated-the device will not jam or bunch thenapkins, and a succession of incomplete actuating lever manipulationswill operate merely to step-by-step advance the uppermost napkin in thestack until it is in position for handling and withdrawal rfrom (Cl.l312-.62)

2 the magazine, al1 without disturbing the other napkins inthe stack.

Another object of my :invention is the provision of a `follower bed, ina stack dispensing device, which angles upwardly gradually from the endthereof to :the other.

Still :another object of my invention is the provision foi a lfollowerbed, in a stack dispensing device of the character describedy which isAhigher at the Arear end thereof than at the front, or articledelivery-end.

Other and `further objects of my invention will part be obvious, andstill others will be pointed out speciically hereinbelow in connectionwith the following description -of severa1 illustrative embodimentsthereof.

In the drawings annexed hereto, forming a part hereof,

- Fig. 1 is a lengthwise vertical section through a simple type of`stack dispensing device containing a followery plate constructedaccording to and embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through a. dispenser of the type shown inShapiro Patent 1,965,060, and ra stack of arti-cles to be dispensedtherewithin, the stack resting on another form of follower bed alsoconstructed according to and embodying my invention;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the follower bed shown in section inFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of another form of follower bed alsoconstructed according to and embodying my invention;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view illustrating the action of thedispensing mechanism of the Shapiro type upon a folded napkin atop astack resting on the follower bed of my invention.

Referring to the form of dispensing device illustrated in Fig. l, whichcomprises a rectangular, elongated casing I, of wood, metal or the like,having a transverse opening 2 at the upper portion of the front 3thereof, a coiled expansion spring t may be provided to urge follower 5towards fron-t 3. Follower 5 may be formed of sheet metal, wood or thelike, of unitary or built-up structure, comprising side walls 6 andplate 1. Side walls 6, 6 are shorter at the top than at the bottom, thatis, the walls taper so that plate l is angled with respect to front wall3 against which it is urged or biased by spring 4. The stack A orarticles to be dispensed will thus be compressed at the bottom 8 to amuch greater extent than at the top 9, so that the stack elements at theupper portion 9 thereof adjacent opening 3 will be partially separatedfrom one another, and less tightly packed together, permitting theirWithdrawal very easily. The upper edge of front wall 3 may have adownwardly depending lip 3' defining the upper margin of opening 2, andwhether the stacked arti-cles are of such length as to extend above orbelow the edge of lip 3', the device will operate equally well, becauseof my follower.

Referring now to specific modification of my invention illustrated inFigs. 2, 3 and 5, the casing is indicated by reference numeral l0, andmay comprise a front wall I2, side walls I4, I4, and a rear wall I5,which may be apertured as at II to permit access to the interior of thedevice. Top I8 is apertured as at I9 to permit manual access to orremoval of the napkins from the ycasing. Fixed within casing I is amagazine having a horizontally extended magazine cover plate 20, a frontwall 2?., a rear wall 24, and side walls 26, 2B. It will be seen thatthe magazine cover plate 2t is open adjacent rear wall 22, as at 2l, topermit the operating rod 30 to bear down against the uppermost articlein the stack disposed within the magazine and arrange same for manualwithdrawal from the stack, all as described and claimed in the aforesaidShapiro Patent No. 1,965,060,

`While devices of the type described and claimed in said Shapiro patentmay operate on articles of various kinds, they have been found tooperate very lsuccessfully on paper napkins having a transverse line offold at an end 40 thereof. Paper napkins so folded are superposed toform a pile or stack and loaded in the magazine through rear opening I'Iso that the line of fold at end iB is at the left (see Figs. l and 5)directed towards the opening I9 in the top of the machine andadjacent toand in line with opening 2|, the

pile or stack resting on the magazine follower or bed indicatedgenerally yby reference character Provision is made (not shown herein)in dispensing articles of the character described to urge the magazinefollower'upwardly to bear the stack or pile of napkins up againstmagazine plate 20 and opening 2l, these being roughly equivalent tospring II as in Fig. 1. These means are fully described and claimed inthe Shapiro Patent 1,965,060 and so will not be detailed herein, itbeing understood that the present invention re-i lates .specificallyonly to the follower bed com ponent of the device.

Follower 50 of my invention may be made of metal, wood or the likerigid, relatively stiff material, .and in the modifications of Figures 2and 3, is of inverted U-sect-ion comprising a pair of side wall members52, 52l and a bed portion Eli. Side walls 52, 52 are shorter at end 56than at end 58, so that bed 54 slants upwardly from end 56 to end 58.

When a stack of paper napkins, folded as above described, are disposedon follower bed 54, and the follower permit-ted to rise upwardly, by anyconventional means, bearing the stack along with it until it brings sameagainst and into contact with plate 2i! and opening 2|, it will beobvious that the stack S is subject to greater compression at one endthereof than at the other. The compression effect and the braking effectis proportional `to the number of paper napkins in stack S, and theangle of the follower bed 54' to the underside of the horizontallyextended plate 2t, and the compression decreases gradually from theportion of the stack remote from opening 3 towards the part thereofopposite said opening. I have found that when bed 54 rises about 5degrees above the horizontal from end 55, very good results are obtainedin securing almost automatic separation of the top one or two sheetsfrom the rest of the stack. With this, so to speak, preseparation,operating rod 30 is much less likely to disturb any of the sheets belowthe topmost one. The separation of the sheets induced by the varyingcompression and the angularity of the stacked sheets also preventssticking between adjacent sheets, and also overcomes any tendency tostick.

My invention may be incorporated in standard, -conventional machinesywhich have the ordinary fiat follower F, as in Figs. 4 and 5, with theflat, horizontally extending bed 1B, parallel to the nat magazine coverplate. In this modification of my invention, a plate 'I2 is provided,raised upwardly at one end 'I4 thereof by a downwardly extended leg 16,the included inside angle between plate l2, corner 'Ill and leg IB beingsubstantially about Plate l2 may be disposed atop the conventionallyflat and horizontally extending follower F, held therewithin by themagazine walls, and the folded napkin stack rested thereon, giving itthe desired inclination and increasing the compression at one endthereof, over the other endl thereof.

Referring now to Fig. 6, the operation of the device with the followerplate of my invention includedas a part of a Shapiro-type of device istherein shown. The greater compression of stack S at the rear of thestack, remote from-the magazine opening El and the folded napkin edges40, @il isclearly seen. As bed plate 54 moved upwardly, the napkins willbe pressed against edge 2S of opening ZI, and due to the even greatercompression at the rear, and the absence of any appreciable compressionat the front of the stack, immediately adjacent edges 4G, lIll thenapkin a which is uppermost will separate and rise of itself from thesecond napkin b beneath it in the stack.`

When operating bar 30 bears against the upper surface of the spacednapkin a, it will be pulled taut, bearing edge d'0 upwardly and inwardlyso as to permit i-t to be grasped manually or otherwise withdrawn fromthe magazine. ySo much above the level of opening 2| is napkin end 40raised as a result of the use of my new and improved follower plate,that even if the full stroke of operating bar 30 is not achieved, therewill be no jamming or bending of the uppermost napkin, as sometimesoccurs when a follower plate is used which is in parallelism with themagazine plate or front portion against which the napkins are'urged bythe follower.

In the form of my follower plate illustrated in Fig. 1, plate 'I isangled towards the bottom or closed por-tion of the front 3, and awayfrom the portion adjacent the opening 2. The degree of angularity may beof the order o'f five degrees or more, with good resultseventuating.This degree of angularity is not particularly significant,

it being necessary to angle the follower plate only ward end, towards adelivery plate having an 1 sheet clear of the stack to permit manualengage- 10 ment thereof for removal from the dispenser.

2. In a, dispensing device asin claim 1, in which the follower angles aminimum of ve degrees away from the plane of the delivery plate and is 6closer to the delivery plate at a point remote from the dispensingopening therewithin.

JAY LIBEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 905,882 Joachimson Dec. 8, 19081,581,099 Carlson Apr. 20, 1926 2,027,669 Broeren Jan. 14, 1936

